To be sure, genius comes in many forms. But it is often much harder to define, than to just experience and know.  For some, genius was the first time they listened to Beethoven’s Symphony Number 9 or watched Michael Jordan beat the Utah Jazz in the NBA Finals or Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer for his first Wimbledon championship. For others, perhaps it was watching Steve Wiebe get to the kill screen on Donkey Kong. For Phillipe Petit, his genius, his extraordinary creative power, was in not only daring to believe that the seemingly impossible, was possible, not only daring to believe that the undoable was worth doing, but also in doing it.

While the documentary is a revealing insight into the capacity of the human mind to dream beyond, and the human spirit to achieve those dreams, it also got me thinking about genius in a more relevant setting, that of a venture capital investor on Sand Hill Road.

As someone who sees 10 new entrepreneurs per week on average, pitching new business ideas, I’m quite aware that genius is the siren song of the venture capitalist. They, or the companies they represent,  stand out, like true works of art. And while many times it is hard to articulate why they stand out, like Justice Potter Stewart said about pornography,  ”you know it when you see it”. And so we chase them, and fund them. And often, they work out fantastically well.

But that is only half the story. Yes, we often are attracted, like a moth to light, to genius, and we are often shackled by our own needs to believe–our own blind love for the genius. Like Petit, to accomplish the impossible, to scale the towers that had just been built, required immense surreptitious coordination and support.  And coordination that would require its crew be both willing and able to take on the obvious legal risk involved, but also the immense personal risk knowing that their actions could quite possibly lead directly to the death of Petit. But therein lies the power of genius. It attracts and reels in sycophants willing to go to inordinate lengths ignoring fact and truth, to support the ambition of genius. Such is the power over its followers.

So what again does this have to do with venture capital? It has everything to do with venture capital. Because like the sycophants that helped Petit achieve his dream, however strange it was, Sand Hill Road is the sycophant of genius. And like Petit’s love interest in the movie, who subjugated her dreams to help Petit reach his, only to find him immediately abandoning her after his conquest, genius in Silicon Valley can also be the kryptonite of venture capitalists (no, i’m not implying in ANY way that VC’s are supermen!) if they don’t take great lengths to focus intensely on the realities of building businesses  rather than the glare of the white hot light of the genius. And that, that is the genius of the best venture capitalists!

 Our selection criteria is stringent at HQ, and Greg met all tests, including being reachable IN THE OFFICE, during any two consecutive Seattle summer sunshine  days. (This test, if you can believe it, narrowed the addressable field to 2, so the outcome was, as they say “res judicata“). In addition to being a good friend and confidant, and someone who allowed me to author a few chapters of the book College Survival, (I highly encourage you to buy in the embed below, AND send my children to college on my Amazon affiliate fees), Greg also has a 1-0 lifetime match record against yours truly in USTA tournament match play, having taken me down in the 16 and under quarterfinals of the Yakima Valley Championships 6-3 6-3. Nothing has ever lasted longer than the three hour ride home in his mom’s cult-classic Capri Classic station wagon. Or was it the Camry already? Congratulations, Greg. Rematch?

At HQ, there aren’t many executives more respected than Hulett, whose impressive ability to both kiss and kick @ss at the same time are only matched by HQ’s inability to remember if his name has one or two “L’s” or “T’s”.  On the substantive and truthful side, we’ve been a close watcher of mPire BH and AH (before Hulett and after Hulett), and are really impressed with his ability to lead from the front and drive a very impressive turnaround at mPire. We’re also proud to call him a friend and confidant, and wish him the very best as he starts driving the Real Networks Games business.

And as we’ve done with other great Seattle entrepreneurs of the adventurous kind, like Rahul Sonnad, we at HQ will begin working immediately on Hulett to quit, move to LA, and start his next venture with Clearstone. We’re only half kidding.

Congrats, Batman. Best of luck.

I gave in. And now it is time to pay the piper. It is that time, where after months of railing against my daughter’s love for the Jonas Brothers, I must live up to my promise to let Tara and Madeline go to a Jonas Brothers concert. So, I’m turning the page, and am really excited to be sending them to Arco Arena for VIP treatment at the Jonas Brothers concert in August. I’ll be staying at home for this one and melting down my purity rings on the Big Green Egg.

It is amazing how much depth these guys have. Like Springsteen, they always take on the tough issues!

I guess over adoration of the Jonas Brothers could be worse….she could like Elvis or The Beatles! Weren’t they also signs of the apocalypse?

It was an auspicious beginning for Smokeapalooza, the annual Stern Family festival of meats,  that signals the beginning of the “Leon’s (David’s) Getting Laaarger” period of year and the opening of the Big Green Egg for the first time since it went into the shop for its tune-up. We take this pretty seriously out here on the prairie in Walnut Creek. We fired up the BGE at 7:00 AM sharp, looking for steady state, 215 degrees. No Smokeapalooza is complete without spectators. The first of many onlookers trying to figure out what the hell I’m doing this early the morning on a Sunday. Oh…look…there are more spectators…..This one below juuuuust, might be getting a bit too close. 

Meat and chicken and pork. A very important part of Smokeapalooza. We buy only the best brisket, chicken, and sausages we can find, and we actually slather it with a Stern Family secret meat rub, handed down for centuries. This one, was actually devised after much experimentation. You can imagine the time it takes to find the optimal combo out of this tub! (If you would like some, just let me know. We ship globally. Now back to the meat. For us, that means a trip to the butcher. The Official Butcher of Smokeapalooza is Lawrence’s Meats of Walnut Creek, which curiously, is located in Alamo.  (I’m looking for an official sponsor for next week’s event, so just let me know.) And please, keep this down. It is only a smattering of small pork products. Please don’t tell my Rabbi.

No Smokeapalooza is complete without family and beer. Luckily, we had both. 

As a good day rolled closer to a finer night, families of spectators gathered, anticipating the feast.

With all the delicious foot traffic passing the Big Green Egg, Nathan got impatient. And as much as I know that for optimal smoked meats on the BGE you CANNOT look inside, I had to peek to see the goods. 

Nothing is more satisfying than finally pulling a masterpiece off the grill!

And nothing is more satisfying than seeing your wife enjoy the fruits of a hard days’ work. You know, work that required 12 straight hours tending to the Big Green Egg while babysitting 12 ounce bottles of beer.

#1 Must Re-Read. You will never look at George Will the same again.

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